“Debt bondage was the term the media and the professors in the universities called it. Forced labor was what God and the men “chained” to the fields by paper and debt knew it to be.” (page 48)With the dirt of an unexpected travel day scraped off of me, I return a day late but not a dollar short. I have big news to share…The Torch Forsaken, my 12th novel and namesake of this blog, will be released tomorrow, May 22nd. Pardon me as I giggle and shiver in nervous excitement. I really love this book and I hope you all will too. So, please, help me spread the word. I’d hate for Dimas and Alanyo to feel slighted tomorrow. Haven’t they suffered enough? *grins*Speaking of their suffering, the research that was necessary to bring my two Brazilian cane workers to literary life was incredibly enlightening and sadly inspiring.Guilt always tickles me uncomfortably behind the knees when I find romantic inspiration from stories that really are tragic. The suffering of these workers is real and, worse yet, is current. It’s happening as you read. Is it alright for an author to make a few dollars off of their suffering?I don’t know.I worry that it’s not, that’s it’s some kind of exploitation or usery. I worry that I’m making light of their situation by dressing a romance in their real life woes. But right when I’m ready to turn back, I realize that perhaps bringing their situation to light, even in the relative fluffiness of romantic fiction, I might in fact be helping them. If I didn’t know about the cane workers’ sufferings in South America, I can only assume that at least one of my readers didn’t know either. There must be knowledge and then acknowledgement of a problem before it can be solved. I truly pray that my silly little story will spread a little of that needed knowledge around.Delusions of grandeur? Perhaps, but I’m a pro at delusions, so why not? Right?What do you think?As you read my story tomorrow (Note: positive thinking on this hopeful author’s part), I hope you’ll find that I didn’t trivialize in any way the living tragedy which is debt bondage. Again, please let me know your thoughts on how I did.Until tomorrow (Release Day!!!)…Chloe Stowe